MOSCOW, 1 Mar - RIA Novosti. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation proposed to grant the participants of the special operation on the territory of Ukraine, the LPR and the DPR the status of a combat veteran, the corresponding draft is published on the official portal of draft regulatory legal acts.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine early in the morning on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal "the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."
To do this, according to him, it is planned to carry out "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine", to bring to trial all war criminals responsible for "bloody crimes against civilians" of Donbass.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, the civilian population is not in danger. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But there is no question of the occupation of Ukraine, stressed the President of Russia.